Bab

The Bab (20 October 1819-9 July 1850), born Siyyid Ali Muhammad Shirazi, was the founder of Babism and one of the central figures of the Baha'i faith.

Biography
Ali Muhammad was born in Shiraz, Persia in 1819 to a middle-class merchant family, and he became a merchant in Bushehr between the ages 15 and 20. In 1841, he went on pilgrimage to Iraq, and he stayed in Karbala for seven months. There, he met Kazim Rashti and became one of his followers, and he became a religious commentator. In 1844, he claimed to be a messenger of God, and that he was the promised Twelver Shia Mahdi "al-Qa'im". He gained thousands of followers, preaching that a new prophet would arise in the same manner as Jesus and Muhammad. However, the Persian government persecuted the Babists, and the Bab and thousands of his followers were executed in 1850. The Bab is considered to be similar to John the Baptist in the Baha'i faith, as his follower Baha'u'llah claimed to be a fulfillment of the Bab's prophecy when he claimed to be the next prophet in 1863.